Tuesday, January 22, 2013

An Ending: Tuon

This post contains spoilers for A Memory of Light

Read at your own peril.  

I thought I had a lot to say about Tuon, which is why I wanted to give her a post separate from Mat's, but upon thinking about it, I realize I don't really have that much to say. Tuon is who she is. That crazy, silly Empress of Seanchan who needs to get over herself. 

But I do have a few comments, though most of them relate to other characters. So this may actually end up being an extenuation of my Mat post. Sorry guys. Maybe I should have just made my Mat post super long. 

Anyway....

Knotai

Tuon, can you stop it with the renaming people already? I don't understand this need. Not at all. Can't you just let Mat be Mat and Min be Min? Do they really need crazy Seanchan names? Apparently, the answer is yes. 

Anyway, I think Tuon is totally in love with Mat. She just needs to suck it up and admit it to herself. And I love that Mat was able to admit it to himself. Our little Mat, the ultimate player, finally fell in love. My how he has grown! 

I also absolutely loved the seen when Mat rode out to look at the battle with Tuon and the rest of the Seanchan in tow and he was all like "Wait here for a moment honey" and then went down and completely turned the tide of the battle. I was like "YES! That's our Mat! Being awesome." I'm glad the Seanchan, particularly the Seanchan general got to see that. I'm glad they realize that Tuon is not completely crazy in picking Mat and that he's just pure awesome. 

Rand al'Thor

Bow to the crystal throne indeed. Well played, Rand al'Thor. Well played. He bowed to Tuon without swearing to her or making her be above him. Really the entire Tuon/Rand sequence was perfect. Rand just walking in and the guards having no idea who he is until suddenly Tuon is like "THAT'S THE DRAGON REBORN WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?" 

And then when Rand sort of insinuated that Mat had set it all up and Mat was put on the same side as Rand, oh my lord! I was like "NOOO! Mat is not a traitor, but well played, al'Thor. Well played."

Honestly, everything about this scene was well played by Rand. Him calling Tuon out on her "forsaking your oaths" crap? Perfect. Him superseding her authority by being Lews Therin? Perfect. Essentially check and mate.  

Artur Hawkwing   

So a lot of people have been talking about the insinuated conversation between Artur Hawkwing and Tuon and how they think it'll totally change Tuon's worldview. I have to say, I don't agree. He might tell her that trying to conquer all of Randland is stupid, but I don't really think he'll change her opinion on Aes Sedai. It's my understanding that there is no love lost between Artur and the Aes Sedai. He might applaud Tuon using them as she does. So yeah, I don't see much coming from that conversation.

The Future

I'm going to talk more about Min and Tuon in the post about Min, but I will touch on it a little here, because I think between Min and Mat, the Seanchan have to change. She can't ignore the two of them, and Mat is going to have a lot of street cred now that he won the Last Battle.

Seanchan is going to change. And things will get better. I have hope! Especially since the Dark One is all sealed up and can't affect the world. Things can only get better.

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